Sky High
by wirewrappedlily
Summary: If there was one thing Tony knew for sure, it was that he missed the days when he missed the days when the worst that could happen was he would be having wet dreams in math class. Sequel to 'Stay'. Tony/Steve, etc.
1. Chapter 1: Mean

Tony Stark snorted awake at the balled up piece of paper thrown expertly at the back of his head. Snorting sleep away and sitting up maybe a little too fast not to be noticed, Tony took a wild look around the room, fully expecting to see Fury scowling at him in that special way he seemed to reserve for Tony.

Instead, the most painfully droning professor in the history of the universe was flipping torturously slowly through a slide show about the process bees went through to make honey.

For one blindingly, painfully clear moment, Tony's brain decided to give him the dumb-ass thought that would trigger his whole head:_ 'As if the raging hormones didn't make teenagers stupid enough, we melt their brains with this shit?'_

Tony looked down at his hands, and promptly wanted to throw up. Jerking himself more upright, Tony looked around the room almost wildly.

A boy with longish, dirty-blond hair was trying to semaphore something to him, and Tony had about three seconds to figure out that _that_ was Clint Barton, a surly eighteen in the back of the classroom. A boy at the front of the class turned in his seat, his eyes landing on Tony's and a look of horror flooding his face.

Tony looked down at his thin, frail eleven-year-old body, his stomach dipping sickeningly again. This was the age he'd finished high school at, but this wasn't his high school.

A very lanky boy in a pair of jeans that were too short in the leg and too big in the waist and an accidental-pink polo shirt looked around the room, obviously panicking, until his eyes had fallen on all of them. Tony followed his longer gazes; the ones that were of recognition. Bruce Banner at the front of the class; Clint at the back; an anorexic-looking Steve next to the boy finding him; a mountain of jock-ish muscle in a letterman's jacket that simply had to be Thor; and an ethereally beautiful, remote Natalia Romanov, just as gorgeous as she was as a woman instead of a teenager.

The bell sounded, and, as if magnetized, they were drawn to the twig of a boy that had been sitting beside Steve.

"Phil, what the fuck is going on here?" Clint growled, his hair hanging over his eye as he shifted fluidly under the shelter of his leather jacket.

Tony knew the type, if only distantly. Clint was a badass, a rebel. The kind that wasn't ever really redeemed.

The twig of a boy shrugged, and Tony had to stop himself from gaping that that was their calm, cool and collected handler. "I don't know, Barton, but it's bad. This smacks of Loki."

Steve's wraith-like form locked down, and Tony shifted half of them until he was standing beside Steve, trying to express that Steve was going to be safe no matter what in actions alone. Steve looked at him carefully, cradling Tony's face in his hands and looking down into his eyes for a long time. "At least we're together, and we're not injured."

"And we're still in 2012." Tony added, smiling a little. He checked under his shirt, the light of the arc reactor lighting his features for a moment. Steve almost visibly relaxed that there was no risk of Tony dying from the shrapnel in his chest.

"Steve, Tony, you guys can't touch." Natasha hissed, slipping between them, "Tony, you're eleven, and Steve, high school is bad enough for a twig."

"I remember...but I don't care." Steve told her firmly, "Loki's not tearing us all apart again." Tony slipped around Natasha's back, taking Steve's hand firmly.

"Guys, just be careful. Tony, you weren't in public school-"

"No, I was in a private school that when the headmaster found out that I could do equations in my head that my teachers couldn't even follow, he sent me down for misconduct and caned me." Tony told them as if it were nothing. Steve's face twisted in a mask of horror and rage, turning to his boyfriend incredulously, "The reason I left school at eleven and went to MIT at fifteen was because my mother made my dad wait until I could at least grow some scruff before shipping me off again." Steve slipped his fingers through Tony's, squeezing gently. Bruce looked like he was going to be sick, and Thor looked, well, thunderous. Tony shrugged, shrinking in on himself a little more.

Clint was scowling, "Bastards...bastards like that...need to be shot." Coulson reached for his arm, and there was more gravity in the look they shared than Tony and Steve could even muster.

"We should get going, though." Coulson said, glancing at a watch that was probably larger than his wrist.

"Anyone else notice that most of us were really tiny when we were kids?"

"Hey! I'm not tiny, I'm fun-sized." Tony objected, scowling. Steve laughed, pulling the younger boy under his arm, "But I should call Happy to come get us."

"Loki's not meant to be able to perform magic from his cage…" Steve said uncertainly, and Tony migrated closer, protective of Steve, even from his own damn guilt.

Thor was looking awfully shifty, and Tony actually pulled Steve into his arms, "What did you do, Thor."

"I FREED MY BROTHER. WE SPOKE OF WHAT HAD CHANGED HIM. WE SPOKE OF WHAT HE'D DONE WRONG, AND HE PROMISED TO CHANGE HIS WAYS."

"You didn't happen to talk about what you did wrong, did you?"

Thor looked so immaculately confused that Tony had to stifle a groan. Steve pressed closer into Tony's side. "We're so fucked." Clint groaned, hanging his head.

"So, tremendously, fucked."

* * *

Pepper looked at the vaguely familiar child staring up at her. "This would've been so much easier if you'd kept a picture of yourself from childhood," Steve grumbled.

"How can I prove to you that I am Tony Stark?" Steve and Pepper both looked at him, opening their mouths to speak, "I know! Pepper, you only got twelve percent of Stark Tower, but I'll give you a hundred and twelve percent of an orgasm." Pepper looked wonderfully horrified, but Tony wasn't done yet, "Oooh, how 'bout this one! W-"

"Or you could have just done this," Clint reached over, yanking down the collar of Tony's shirt until the glow was visible from the arc reactor.

"That's less fun!"

"I believe you! You're Tony, I believe you…please stop talking." Pepper looked slightly like she was about to be sick, and Steve only relaxed when Tony snorted, shaking his head.

"No offense, Pepper, but that was less about you and more about convincing you of my identity. I'm in a committed relationship with the single hottest person I've ever even heard of, and he's enough of a romantic dope to've convinced himself he loves me back." Steve scowled, pinching him subtly, "Hey! Save _that_ for the bedroom."

Pepper shuddered, looking even more like she was about to be sick, "Tony, you look like an eleven year old. Please stop talking like a sexual predator."

"What's the convex term for 'pedophile'?" Tony wondered idly, holding on steadily to Steve's hand.

The teenaged Avengers began to pile into the limo Pepper and Happy had pulled up in, Maria Hill looking like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. But the rail-thin Captain America's jaw was tense, his hand maybe a little too desperate in holding onto Tony's, eyes lost and desolate. Tony didn't like it. Not one little bit. Steve's guilt was written all over his face, and Tony had known that he wasn't really winning that battle.

Tugging just a little on Steve's hand, Tony made him meet Tony's eyes, "Hey, Pepper, you look full-up, Steve and I will catch the next trip home."

Pepper opened her mouth to tell them that there wasn't a need, but closed it as she looked at her miniature boss and his boyfriend. "Alright. But the two of you need to be careful. Stay out of sight."

Tony grinned, waggling his eyebrows at Steve, "Care to go make out under the bleachers?"

Pepper groaned, escaping before any more psychological damage could be done.

Steve turned his head to Tony, the wall quickly crumbling, "I'm kind of happy that I'm still taller than you." Steve said, sounding pained.

"Familiarity's always good." Tony agreed flippantly, looking around them at the dwindling populace of the parking lot. Spying a secluded place for them to talk, Tony tugged at Steve's hand, leading him slowly into a secluded part of the building. Tony sat down with him, their legs pressed tight against each other. Tony reached over, wrapping his little arms around Steve's neck. "I love you, you know that?" Tony told him softly. Steve mustered a small quirk of his lips, his hand in Tony's still. "We're safe now, Steve. Loki won't try again. He won't get to you again."

Steve looked over with tortured eyes, "What if the war...What if the war wasn't the only darkness in me?"

Tony hushed him, rubbing his thumb over Steve's lips, "I love you, Steve. I know the man you are." Tony rubbed his fingers shortly through Steve's hair, skimming the backs of his fingers against Steve's cheek. Tony dashed a tear away as Steve opened his eyes at last, clucking and pulling Steve into a hug.

The back of Tony's shirt was grabbed in one meaty hand, and he was flying backwards through the air, a growl making his heart squeeze in panic as Steve was beared down on by two other thugs in letterman's jackets, "Sissy boy is gay after all…"

"Leave him alone!" Tony regretted the words the moment they were spoken; possibly the most idiotic and useless thing he'd ever said. Tony was suddenly thrown down on the grass, yelling out as his arm took his weight, only just not hard enough to break it.

"Shut up, pipsqueak!"

Steve was on his feet, shorter and smaller than the football players; shorter and smaller than he was used to anymore. Tony was picked back up by the front of his shirt, his fist flying out desperately for the bastard's jaw. A bone did snap this time, his hand shot through with pain, and he was thrown to the ground hard enough to wind him. "HEY!" someone bellowed from the parking lot, and Tony was dimly aware of running feet coming towards them. Steve woofed air as he was kneed in the stomach, but Tony couldn't help him: a fist dragging him up by his hair while the other wound up. A flash of plaid tackled the linebacker to the grass, one hard elbow driven into his ribs while a fist went for the linebacker's sternum. Tony stumbled on his own legs, looking up as his rescuer caught a wild punch thrown in retaliation and struck his assailant three times before Tony could blink next. Steve smacked a punch to his jaw away from that perfect face, stepping forward and drawing his knee up, snapping out in a kick even as his knee connected, sending the guy flying. Steve looked just as surprised by the strength as Tony did, but he was ducking under a messy grab, under all defenses and able to break ribs with the punch he threw, carrying the bastard six feet through the air and into the ground.

The three thugs ran off, and Tony was suddenly encased in a bony but familiar embrace, Steve turning his head and manipulating his body to check for injuries. Satisfied after a moment that was still too fast for Tony to keep up with, Steve was hugging him again, looking over his head at the boy that had saved Tony. "Thank you."

The boy's flyaway brown hair bobbed as his head did, skinny shoulders shrugging under bulky plaid that hid tightly coiled, lithe muscles. "Those guys are asshats, but, I gotta say, it's a little weird." He gestured at the two of them, and Steve kind of had to concede.

"More than you know." Tony muttered grimly, "I'm Tony, this is Steve."

The boy smiled at them both, offering his hand to shake, "Peter Parker."

* * *

**A/N: So, after a rough start, I managed to kick my brain into gear today. **

**Due to the content, there's a good chance there's not going to be a whole lot of smut. I might be open to bribery to put in a wet dream or two into poor Tony's undeveloped little head. Maybe.  
**

**Hope you enjoy, lovelies.  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Say Anything

"So, lemme get this straight: You're a young recruit to the Avengers Initiative 'cause you can shoot gooey white thread out of your wrists, you can scale walls-which _Natasha_ can do, by the way-"

"Clint, enough. He's a good kid."

"Yeah, but he's a _kid_!"

Pete glanced around the room, snorting a little, "You're all kids."

"Actually, Steve's ninety-three, technically." Tony retorted, half-leaping onto the high stool at the bar. "I'm in my early forties, as is Bruce; Natasha would have my testicles if I even tried to guess her age; Clint's somewhere between 34 and 60; and Coulson...well, there's a theory that Coulson is, in fact, God. As in ours. Thor, though, _is_ a god; he's only a few meager millenia, old." Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes as he reached for his bottle of scotch and one of the tumblers.

"Oh, Hell, no, you don't, Tony! You're eleven, you are _not_ drinking scotch!" Pepper snatched both bottle and glass out of Tony's hands, trying to pile as many bottles of booze as she could, spiriting them away. Tony pouted, and Steve shook his head, smiling at him fondly.

"So, no sex, no booze, no driving, and I get beaten up? I wanna be old again!" Tony whined, mocking the executive with more venom in his eyes than his tone let on.

Steve looked over at Tony, worried that he wasn't taking the age difference well. "You remember, a couple months ago...there was an attack on Manhattan?"

"Y-Yeah...The Avengers took care of it, right? Tony Stark, Captain-"

"Captain _Steve_ Rogers, _Thor_-" Tony listed acerbically, and Peter turned to look at each of them slowly. He was swaying slightly on his feet for all of five seconds before he'd collapsed to the floor in a heap of unconscious teenage boy. Tony looked idly at the lump of boy, his head darting back up with a happy smile splitting his features, "Well, he certainly took that well!"

Coulson grumbled slightly, shooting him a nasty look, "Peter is young; and he hero-worships you and Steve, though god knows why anyone would worship you."

"Hey!" Steve and Tony protested at the same time, and Tony's heart gave a little squeeze. Steve met his eyes easily, shining with pride at him.

"I'm going to go get changed into something less depressing." Tony grumbled.

"I'll call for some clothes that should fit you." Pepper affirmed, casting a concerned look as Tony groaned a little getting down from the chair.

Steve followed him, and Tony was just about at breaking point that he was. "Steve, I'm f-"

"Your hand is broken, it's swollen." Steve had a list of things that he could point out that made Tony entirely not fine, but he held it back, and for that alone, Tony let him stay.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, not anymore. I think that the serum's in my system, I'm just...the size I was when I didn't have it." Steve told him softly, helping Tony with the dexterity needed to take his jeans off, Tony hissing slightly when he tried to use his broken hand. Steve brought him into the bathroom, sitting him on the marble counter and taking out the first aid kit. "Tony...what if this is Loki's first move?"

Tony stopped Steve's hand from dabbing at a scrape on his cheek, turning Steve's head to look at him. "I'm not going to let him get to us again, Steve. We're better together, always have been." Tony kissed his lips, and with his eyes closed, Steve could almost believe that it was still them.

When they broke apart, Steve rested their foreheads together, then slotted himself against Tony's neck with a sigh, "What's bothering you about all this, Tony. I can tell it's not about Loki being loose, so what is it?"

Tony's hands were resting on his on Tony's thighs, and Steve could hear the small breach of air ghosting out in an almost pained sigh, "I didn't have the happiest of childhoods, Steve. I was miserable...and I was useless. I'm useless now. You have the serum still, Banner probably has his, too; Clint's got his aim, Natasha's still a super-spy, and even Coulson can still rile us together...I'm too small to fit in the Iron Man suit. I might be too small to even work on it. I'm useless to you, Steve, a liability-"

"Hush." Steve ordered gently, taking Tony's lips again. "You are the furthest thing from useless, Tony. I need you." Steve breathed between them, "I always need you."

Tony wrapped his arms around Steve's neck, tucking his head into the warmth of his shoulder, "I don't know why you love me...I am a pain in the ass." Steve snorted, shaking his head as he hugged back securely.

Steve finished wrapping Tony's hand up, kissing his finished work softly before Tony pulled him up to his mouth. Steve knew it was wrong and weird, Tony's lineless face, a little fuller with youth, wasn't the face he'd fallen for. Tony's lips were fuller, too, and he was just so young and innocent-looking that Steve was almost dying. But it was still Tony, and Steve was his, Tony was Steve's, and there was no changing that after what Steve had gone through to get them here.

"You know, even the size of Paris Hilton at her worst, you're still gorgeous." Tony told him, a calculating tone in his voice that always told Steve that he wasn't just teasing.

Steve blushed, "You...would be the only person, ever, to think that." Steve told him softly, blue eyes studying every one of Tony's younger features.

Tony shook his head silently, pulling their mouths together. Steve slipped his arm under Tony's knees, supporting him and kissing him still as he turned and moved to walk out of the bathroom. "Stop, take a step to the left." JARVIS told him smoothly. Steve laughed a little into the kiss, Tony chuckling, and did as he was told without taking his lips away from Tony's, "Press on, sir."

Steve set Tony on the bed, moving over to his dresser shortly. "I want one of your shirts, please." Tony told him, propped up on his elbows, "Mine are gonna be dresses on me anyway, I might as well be wrapped up in your smell."

Steve smiled at him over his shoulder, obeying and grabbing a shirt for each of them. "JARVIS, are the others waiting for us or anything?"

"No, sir. Agent Coulson and Agent Romanoff are caring for Mr. Parker, Dr. Banner has retired to research, and Thor is moping in the pool."

Steve frowned, climbing into bed anyway, "I know he kind of deserves to be moping, but I do feel bad for Thor."

"Agent Barton is calling Thor's Jane as we speak." Steve nodded, smiling gently at that. Tony opened his arms for Steve, and Steve slipped into bed with his boyfriend, the both of them settling their over-large shirts down.

"I really did grow, didn't I?" Steve muttered, looking down at his bony wrist, the cavernous shirt sleeves miles too loose and too long.

Tony traced his fingers over the ridges of Steve's ribs, "Steve, you may still be super, but you're fragile, too. Be careful." Steve curled his fingers in Tony's hair, ducking his head to press his lips to the mess of black.

"I will be, Tony. You, too, huh?"

Tony's hand clasped around Steve's, his eyes closing as he nodded.

Steve brushed his fingers through Tony's hair softly until Tony was unconscious and snoring lightly against his chest. Steve laid there wondering how Tony could have found it even a little comfortable there, Steve was so thin. But as Tony sighed, shifting closer to him under the covers, Steve figured he knew how Tony could take comfort there now: Tony loved him.

"Forgive the interruption, sir, but it would appear Loki is attempting to enter the lobby of Stark Tower." JARVIS told them calmly, and Steve almost went into shock.

Tony rubbed his back carefully, his eyes still closed, but his sleep too light for true shutting down, "Alright, Jarv, call up some of the bigger guns...not Bruce, though. I don't want to see if Hulk was affected by this in the Tower. Helicarrier, maybe, but not here." Steve frowned briefly, but put it down to Tony teasing him for lack of anything else to regulate him.

"Yes, sir, Agents Romanoff and Barton are on their way, Agent Coulson has been notified as well."

Tony turned his head to Steve, looking at his young, world-weary face studiously, "How far is it gonna fly if I don't let you out of my arms to go down there?"

Steve's face darkened almost imperceptibly, "I'm still Captain America-"

"You're still Steve Rogers, love of my life, too. I'm not above activating the force field around this bed to keep you in it."

"You built a force field around the bed?" Steve asked, looking up at him in confusion. Tony grinned.

"After we fell out of bed that first time, I thought it'd be prudent to have something softening your landing, too."

Steve fought his smile, shaking his head, "You-" Tony's hand made a soft slapping sound as he clapped it lightly over Steve's mouth.

"I did need to worry about you. I do still need to worry about you. You're kind of really precious to me. I don't care if you don't bruise easy, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to take my landing, too. I'm a big boy, I can handle a bump on the floor." Steve's hand slid up his shirt, going to one of the outlying shrapnel scars on Tony's upper abdomen, just below his ribcage.

Tony flinched every time Steve's gentle fingers touch his scars, no matter how many times Steve's done it. Steve knows that that shouldn't have been an enticement, but he can't help it: he wants to see Tony half as vulnerable as Tony's seen him in the past. Steve kissed Tony's lips hotly, his thumb tracing the raised line of skin thoughtfully.

"Tony, you don't know what it was like…" Steve was smothered by Tony's mouth quickly, and he just accepted it, sighing lightly.

"I never want to know what it's like to lose you, Steve-"

"Sirs, Agent Barton has fallen to the floor-"

Tony and Steve were both in motion, neither fighting the other coming down anymore. Tony punched a series of buttons on the elevator controls, grabbing onto Steve's arm as the elevator started to drop faster. Steve looped one arm around his waist, holding on to Tony as much for stability as he was for the flash of fear going through him. As the elevator stopped crashingly, nearly sending them both to the ground, Steve pulled them up into a sprint, going towards the outer area of the lobby, where Clint was rolling on the ground and red-faced. Natasha was doubled over, laughing so uncharacteristically that Tony and Steve did a double take. And then they saw Loki.

Loki as a teenager was artistic and, Tony would have to admit that if he was any good at guitar, every girl would be drooling over him and making grabby hands: But Loki was clad in, basically, the inner layers of a pirate costume, covered in glitter, and so pissed off that he looked as though he could smite something with his eyes.

"You look like you got attacked by a PCP-crazed stripper!" Clint choked out, and Tony couldn't help his amused snort. Loki's eyes turned on him and Steve with a dark glee, a smirk playing at his lips.

"Why, Steven-"

"You don't get to use his name, fucknut, but before I break you in half, tell them what you've just told us." Natasha managed, pulling herself slowly together.

Loki's eyes flashed, but he turned them on Steve, "I have been rendered powerless by the magic I've used to put us here. I am, for a time, mortal."

Tony smiled that exact same smile that made Loki furious and Steve question his own sanity, taking a step forwards jauntily. "Tash, let's be talking little pieces here?"

Loki withdrew, his hands raising as Natasha smirked, all too happy with that plan. "If you kill me, you will all remain as you are, age all over-"

"Don't care. Killing you seems like a good move here-"

"And Steven will never age, never return to his stature. He may have his healing, Anthony, but what makes you think that a good punch to the chest wouldn't break his more fragile body?" Loki's hiss made Tony Stark's skin run cold.

"I won't age…" Steve breathed, looking over to Tony, hands shaking all over again.

Tony refused to climb into Steve's head and sort out what about this was making him look so pale. They'd keep Loki alive to change them all back, he had to realize that.

Steve looked back up sharply, his eyes angry and his jaw set. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because I know the good Doctor Erskine." Loki smiled, and Steve's small intake of breath made Tony wrack his brain for the name that sounded so damn familiar. "And he told me, as we watched your plane fall from the sky, _exactly_ the hell he'd doomed you to."

Tony watched in something beyond disbelief as Steve snapped, his eyes hardening and his jaw tighter than he'd ever seen it, his thin body that Tony already knew he couldn't restrain coiling to take a lunge at Loki. "ERSKINE WAS A GOOD MAN!" Steve bellowed, and Tony stepped up, getting between Steve and the god of mischief, more to make sure Steve didn't kill him than anything else.

"Steve-Steve! No. Not now. We need him to help you-Steve! You are a good man, killing him now wouldn't be any skin off Tasha's nose, but I'll be damned if it hurts you later!" Tony got as violent as a 90-pound eleven year old could with a miniaturized supersoldier.

Steve snapped out of the rage the moment he continued to press forward with Tony trying to hold him back, Tony pushed along the floor as resistance. His eyes looked horrified for a moment, and he touched the inside of Tony's elbow, collapsing Tony forwards into his arms, holding tight and secure. Steve looked up at Loki, hatred that didn't belong in his eyes there.

"You didn't hurt me, I'm okay." Tony whispered sadly, his face buried in Steve's thin chest and too muffled to hear.

"I need time...time to get my powers back in order to undo what's been done. All I ask is for your protection while I regain my strength."

"Protection from what? High school? Your drama teacher creeping you out?" Coulson sauntered up quietly behind Steve and Tony, and Loki turned his ire on him in a definitive "yes".

Tony snorted, his hands on Steve's shoulders and Steve's around his waist. He smirked at Loki once more, "Lemme guess, your teacher's more than a little coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs?" Tony sneered, and Loki flinched at that.

Tony reached down to take one of Steve's hands, more concerned with how pale he still was than with Loki's mad-as-a-hatter teacher and the blight he'd face in high school when he couldn't wash all the glitter off. "You want out of this as much as we do, we don't need to do anything for you in order to get what little you have to offer." Tony looked up at the sound of Steve's cool, unaffected voice, seeing with an inexplicable wrench of agony that Steve's gorgeous, innocent eyes had gone dead. Cold.

"I can offer you more than that, Steve Rogers…" Loki's voice was almost seductive, and it made Tony want to shred him alive.

Steve's fingers threaded through Tony's, and he raised his chin almost defiantly, "I have all I need and all I want right here, Loki. You took it from me once, so I know how much it's really worth." Tony's hand gave his a small squeeze, and Steve relaxed just a little bit. He had Tony; he could get through the rest. "You have no home, and no powers...you will stay in the broom cupboard Tony sticks you in and you can live through this...trial. You're remaining in school, and you're living that life. You are, after all, the one that wanted it."

Tony didn't let the way he wanted to react get the better of him. He was above that: he'd slept with Captain America, he had to be above that. "I think the one with the cleaning products might be a good one to put him in. Lots of chemicals, lots of toxicity…"

Natasha was frowning, but she shot an appreciative look at Tony's speculations, Clint stepping close so they could herd Loki into the elevator. Coulson looked at them both, and Tony shrugged. "Sorry, I thought it might be for the best…"

Tony nodded, "It was. Doesn't mean I'm not erecting the force field when we go to sleep tonight. I've been wanting to see him bounce off that thing since I started making it."

Steve laughed softly, pressing his lips to Tony's forehead, "You're a good man, Tony Stark." Steve whispered.

"I'm a better man than I was before, but that's down to you, I think." Tony told him fondly, smiling as they waited for another elevator.

* * *

Peter Parker didn't know what to do with the information that it really was a teenaged version of Captain America making out with an eleven-year-old Tony Stark in the elevator as it dinged it arrival. Agent Coulson rolled his eyes, grumbling something about Steve being underage, and Tony flipped him the bird, pouting as Steve laughed and pulled away.

"Where're you taking the bug-man?" Tony interrogated immediately as he realized who was standing next to Coulson, "You're not taking him home yet. Kid needs to see my armor and Steve's shield. He's earned it." Steve smiled, following Tony by their clasped hands, and gestured for Peter to come with them. Peter looked up briefly at the SHIELD agent that was a total pain in his ass. "C'mon, ignore him. We think that facial expression has something to do with a need for more roughage in his diet."

Peter's laugh was somewhere between laugh and gagging sound as he followed two of his idols back into their madhouse.

* * *

**Alrighty then: Thank you so much for your feedback. Sorry for the long time updating (though this is my longest yet, I have to point out), I've been en transit from Thailand back to Canada which is 19+ hours, and then jetlag was trying to kick my ass. **

**Anywho, I hope y'all enjoy ;D  
**

**TTFN  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Enough For Now

Tony traced the knots of Steve's vertebrae, ducking in for a sleepy kiss as Steve stirred in response to the touch, "You haven't slept, have you?" Steve mumbled, cheeks cherry red with sleep and lips warm and swollen.

"What gave me away?"

"You're cold." Steve rose up, grabbing Tony and yanking him into the oasis of heat his own body had created, "And you wake me up when you haven't slept."

Tony pressed himself in tight to Steve's chest, rubbing his fingers against the ribs standing too close to the surface. "What did you dream?" Tony asked, slotting his thigh between Steve's, giving friction to Steve's morning wood and smiling to himself despite the bitter pang that he wasn't that far along in years, no matter how far he was in mind.

"Remember that night in your workshop…?" Steve sighed his question, ducking against Tony's bony shoulder and holding on tight. "You were still wearing a tux from some gala or something...and you were soldering, covered in grease and soot…"

"That turned you on?" Tony smiled, shifting purposefully in Steve's arms, rubbing his thigh against the line of Steve's cock. "I should do that more often, then."

Steve shrugged, his breathing choppy, and his body shivered just a little. "You d-don't have to." Steve's fingers carded lightly through Tony's hair, and Tony laughed breathily against his throat, rubbing rhythmically. "Tony, don't-"

"Sorry, little late for that." Tony nipped Steve's ear, relishing the whole-body shudder that was wrung out of Steve as he came. "Besides, I think I needed to." Tony tucked himself against Steve's chest, under his chin, his fingers trailing up and down his twig of an arm. "Tell me about what you were like when you were this age?"

Steve chuckled, kissing Tony's forehead, "We were...we were almost always hungry. The Depression, and my mom was a nurse...my dad had died in action...The bigger guys used to tell me it was because she couldn't take care of me that I was this size. I probably got beat up in every backalley and behind every store in Brooklyn." Tony was holding on tighter, and Steve reached down to rub Tony's back lightly. "M-My best friend...Bucky Barnes...he would try to stick up for me as much as he could. I got him into so many fights that I just couldn't handle myself…"

Tony knew of James Buchanan Barnes. He knew what happened, and he knew that Steve undoubtedly blamed himself for Bucky's death. "You're a good best friend to have. Made his life interesting." Steve snorted, and Tony took the opportunity to slide further under the blankets, cutting off the world at his back in favour of the warmth wrapped around him.

"You don't have to...I...Bucky wouldn't want me to hold his death on my heart still."

"That was surprisingly easy." Tony commented, and Steve laughed with him despite the light tap of his fingers on Tony's skin.

"Not really. I just...I spend so much time watching the past, this just kinda makes me want to forget it. Rewrite it."

Tony kissed his skin thoughtfully, " I don't know that I'd like that. Everything that happened...it happened to get you _here_. And here is good. Here means I get to be eleven years old and spend a day in bed with my boyfriend because I can't _do_ anything else. Really, the only bad part about here is that I'm eleven."

Steve chuckled, "Good point."

Tony snuffled, his eyes slipping closed. Steve smiled softly, reaching out to brush his thumb over Tony's eyelids, humming softly.

"What about you?" Steve asked, voice edging softly towards sleep.

Tony's eyebrows flicked up in interest, and his mouth curved softly, "'Round this age...my parents stopped paying the ransom demands…" Steve had to fight not to completely lock up around him, "...stopped caring. Didn't matter...I d'n't care either. They…" Tony yawned, and Steve was nearly in tears, "coulda killed me. Mmmm...d'n't have you." The breath was just clean knocked out of Steve, and his hands were trembling as he held Tony.

It took a while before Tony was past the sleep-ridden grumbles and murmurs, until Steve could be sure Tony was truly asleep against him, before Steve dared to ask the room what he needed to ask, "How long...how long has he…?"

"The earliest reports of Mr. Stark's self-esteem and depression dates to five years old, sir. After that, there have been no psychologists permitted access since he was ten."

Steve felt a fierce protectiveness rise up in him, curling himself tighter into Tony's embrace and kissing his temple softly, playing with the near-black hair that shone under his palm. "JARVIS...silence the world. Don't let anything in for the rest of the day. Tony and I have some things we need to work out."

* * *

Pepper Potts considered herself still moderately sane, despite Tony's many varied attempts to take that from her. But Natasha's seventeen-year-old self propped against her desk in a pencil skirt and suit jacket, both fiery red and both intensely, painfully gorgeous, was enough to make her loose her stride.

Worse was when Tony was behind it.

"JARVIS slipped something into my inbox this morning, Ms. Potts, and I felt compelled to let you be the first to know." Natasha smiled at her, and Pepper had to swallow. Natasha handed over the tablet, and familiar-but-not schematics began to rotate and twist for her viewing pleasure.

"Is this…?"

"Tony's titled it 'Rescue'. He designed it for you. JARVIS is rendering and creating the suit now. Tony set it up as a preventive measure for the eventuality that he couldn't become Iron Man. Rescue has more firepower, and is technically heavier, but Tony upgraded the way the power moves and works through it-"

"Why couldn't you drive it?"

Natasha looked at her with a remote kind of understanding, and Pepper felt her face heat, "It's built for you. You're the only one who could get into it, let alone start it up. Tony programmed that as a safety." Natasha actually almost sounded proud of that. Pepper knew it was kind of an act, but still.

"I can't-"

Natasha's eyebrow arched, her lips full and just a little pursed. "Pepper, you are the most competent and reliable person I've ever met. If anyone could be trusted with this, it's you." Natasha's eyes flickered down to Pepper's lips, and the next thing either redhead knew, they were making out, Natasha sitting sideways on Pepper's lap in one of the guest chairs.

"You're underage right now...I shouldn't be doing this in the office…"

Natasha smirked, rubbing her jaw, "Well, when I'm all grown up again, I'll have to see about submitting my application to be your PA again."

Pepper was just about blushing as Natasha slunk out, throwing a glowing smile over her shoulder. "Tony, what the fuck have you gotten me into _now_?"

* * *

Tony walked into the kitchen in one of the rare times of day when no one else would be in there, after a cup of coffee for Steve and him if he could score it. Reflex had Tony almost on the ceiling as he came face-to...well, to sternum, but he was still going with face-to-face, with Loki, mostly glitter-free and dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a rough-hewn cashmere sweater, his hair drawn back into a tight ponytail with a length of brown leather, a matching leather cuff around his wrist attached to a watch. He looked like he'd stepped from the pages of a fashion magazine; the only unattractive thing about him the pure paleness of his hawkish features.

Tony backtracked out of his way as if tazed, drawing his eyes away, "Oh, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to startle you." Loki said softly, melodically.

"Evil: You're not doing it right." Tony realized Steve wouldn't get that reference; Thor most-fucking-definitely wouldn't get that reference, so Loki-

Loki was laughing softly, an oddly honest smile on his lips as he shrugged and shook his head, colour just slightly in his cheeks, "You took me in, and you were good enough to treat me...humanely."

Tony's near-black eyes flashed, his mouth thinning, "Yeah, well...don't come near Steve and I again." Tony slipped by him, trying to keep the coffee in the mugs, "And you aren't the only brains in a world full of muscles, Loki."

Loki pursed his lips, sighing. Loki glanced down to the ground for all of a moment, and, in glancing back up, he was nose-to-upside-down-nose with Peter Parker, the boy hanging from the ceiling literally. Loki startled more violently than Tony had, nearly falling to the ground. Peter smirked, "Do yourself a favour, little girl: don't try to break them up. It'll only make them stronger."

Loki cocked an eyebrow, "Scared for your little family?"

Peter smirked in the face of the oil-and-honey voice, almost too self-assured, "When it comes down to it, they're going to win; and I'm going to help them."

Loki's lip curled, "You may help them, but you may not survive it."

"Don't worry, Peter, he's not actually all that good at killing people." Coulson said flatly from behind Loki, making Loki jump again.

"And how _did_ you survive?" Loki demanded.

Phil smirked, "My heart wasn't there to be stabbed." Clint smirked from behind Loki, fully prepared to torture Phil with the cheesiness of that line later. That was the point of it, actually: Clint hadn't been truly okay since he heard that Phil had been stabbed. SHIELD had put his body on ice in order to extract information from his brain-Coulson had learned not ask how or why-and Tony had broken into SHIELD and taken it-with the very willing and eager help of Captain America himself. Phil didn't ask what Tony and Bruce had done to bring him back, and they didn't tell him. All Phil knew was that he'd woken up strapped down to a bed too comfortable to be in a normal hospital, and Clint was perched precariously in the guest chair, his brain in open-eyed stasis until he moved enough to turn Clint's brain on fully. After many tests, and many SHIELD hoops jumped through, it came ultimately down to the biggest pains in his ass to keep him safe and employed: Tony had threatened not only to quit the Avengers, but to withdraw all support, technical, monetary, and political; Steve had threatened to publicly out and denounce SHIELD-and they still hadn't found a way to kill him, so he couldn't really be silenced; Natasha didn't need to make her threat for it to be heard, and Clint didn't bother, nor did he need to; and both Thor and Bruce had the power to summon much greater enemies to SHIELD's doorstep than SHIELD would ever know how to deal with. The Avengers were powerful enemies to have, and the only ally from SHIELD they were willing to have was Phil Coulson. "Hey, aren't you late for school?" Phil tilted his head slightly, looking piercingly at Loki, who actually did shift under his gaze.

"He is. You all are. I've just had the school call me. The only one of you not being penalized for truancy is Tony." Pepper Potts told them brusquely, "Is he…?"

"He's in bed with Steve." Clint said easily, "And no way in Hell am I going back to high school."

Pepper Potts was a formidable woman. Even more so when Clint was actually shorter than her by a couple inches still. She pursed her lips and raised one eyebrow, and he crumbled, "You have today and tomorrow. Then you have to go to school. Longer than that, and we need doctor's notes; longer still and I'll have some insane legal issues. So, day after tomorrow, and you'll all be in attendance, do I make myself clear?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Clint stuttered, eyes wide. He hadn't met a woman with her particular brand of brass balls in a long time. Smirking to himself, Phil nodded to Pepper, stepping around her to pull Clint back to the TV with Thor, Bruce, and Natasha. Getting Phil to stop trying to work and Natasha to stop trying to train had been a feat for Clint, and Bruce and Thor were kind of in awe of that bit of daring the archer had stepped up to.

Pepper tucked her hair back, turning to go find Tony, "I wouldn't if I were you." Loki told her softly. Pepper had heard enough from Tony of the years to almost doubt how evil Loki was: the story exaggerated and given the Stark flare for dramatics, but Pepper had watched the footage; had seen the carnage. She'd almost lost Tony, and she wasn't going to risk that a second time because the boy before her was charming.

"This wouldn't be the worst thing I've caught him doing."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to everyone for the feedback and support, you're all awesome. We've got a Spidey and Rescue, and I have a few more evil plans for some others, but I'll have to see if that works out. **

**I hope you all enjoy, darlings. TTFN  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Haven't Had Enough

Actually, it was up there on worst things Pepper had caught him doing. She never needed to see Tony Stark dangling upside down in midair against a transparent, blue electrical film, Steve Rogers on the bed behind him and tickling as Tony tried not to break his back, get away from the torture, and refrain from kicking Steve.

"Ms. Potts!" Steve snapped to attention, blushing furiously as Tony slid down the side of the force field.

"No! No, Pepper, don't push the-NO!" Tony fell fully onto his face as the blue film disappeared, groaning into the carpet. "That was just mean." Tony whined into the floor. Pepper tried to contain her snigger as she took her hand away from the key pad JARVIS displayed to release the force field.

"Hello, Steve. Tony, we need to talk about some things concerning the company."

He groaned, shaking his head, not moving a muscle to get up off the floor.

"Yes, Tony. ...Look, Justin Hammer is making inroads to making a very big fuss for SHIELD and the Avengers. We can head it off now, or you can all get crucified later."

Tony's head shot up so fast _she_ got whiplash. "What the fuck has that little shit been saying now?" Calculating black-brown eyes narrowed, and Pepper fought and lost against her smile.

"Tony!" Steve admonished from the bed, and Pepper actually had to swallow down a laugh. "I'm-"

"Steve, don't worry about it." She waved her hand as if erasing it, "He's making a call to arms about the destruction caused by the attack on New York, with you as the main attraction. Something about culpability and how the company and now the Avengers aren't being accountable for their actions." Tony slowly turned his head to look at her, still sprawled over his white carpet, and Pepper shook her head once with a shrug specifically designed to communicate "it's Justin fucking Hammer, what do you expect?"

"Steve, the reason why Hammer doesn't need to be held accountable for anything like dealing under the table-"

"-which Tony put a stop to in Stark-"

"-or the number of American troops Hammer equipment has killed-"

"- 'cause Stark's were stolen or put up on the black market, which Tony also put a stop to-"

"-is because Hammer equipment is the worst that has ever been manufactured. I've seen jury-rigged paintball guns that would be more effective in a warzone than Hammer tech could ever hope to be." Tony put his head back down and slowly rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling in thought, "What's his angle?"

"Senator...Senator ass-clown," Pepper went with the name Tony would actually remember and simply didn't give a damn about it, "is making a case that the deficit caused by the Avengers far outweighs the good you do-"

"Oh, okay, we'll just let Loki take over the world." Tony groaned, thunking his head back against the floor and throwing his hands up in frustration.

"He also wants to get Natasha and Clint brought up as war criminals; he wants Bruce locked up; and he wants Steve in a lab. I don't have to tell you what he wants with your suit."

"Nothing about Thor?"

"I don't think he's willing to admit that Thor exists."

"Tell me there is some form of twisted-ass logic behind that…"

"Admitting interest or admitting he's real would mean admitting he's a god," Tony barked a laugh, "and he's not willing to sway on the one-god stance."

Steve's brow wrinkled, and it was the exact same frown on his young face as it had been on his older one, "I don't understand. This Hammer character is a weapon's manufacturer?"

"If I may, Mr. Stark?" Tony waved his allowance, "Hammer is a quack and a fraud to the extent that, briefly, Tony was entertaining the idea of returning to weapons manufacturing solely to save the lives that the faulty Hammer equipment were costing." Steve looked suitably taken aback, and Tony looked almost pleased of this definition of Justin Hammer.

"And he's trying to say that we're...detrimental?" Steve asked, thoroughly aghast.

"Does Hammer not remember the Expo incident?" Tony piped up from the floor. "I mean, yeah, it was Manhattan that got damaged in the Loki fiasco, but he cost billions in property damage_. And he nearly had me killed!_"

Pepper's lips twitched, "He had military backing, though, remember? And political backing. SHIELD's shady enough to keep up all the spy games and the back-door entrances, but they can't do PR for shit." Tony laughed softly at his once-unshakable Pepper Potts this shaken up.

"So I take it that Natasha showed you what you needed to see?"

Pepper turned an undignified shade of red, her eyes narrowing, "Rhodey's on his way. I'd suggest you at least have actual pants on. This is _not_ Spring Break '87."

Tony snorted, his laugh carrying as she walked back out of her former-boss's room. Steve peered over the bed, looking puzzled, and Tony just smiled, shrugging, "Manned or un-manned…"

* * *

"Will you stop worrying about Captain Spandex and Iron Baby?" Clint hissed, brows drawn together in something dangerously close to a pout.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want Captain America going to jail for having underage sex with playboy Tony Stark. The paperwork would be a nightmare." Coulson retorted smoothly, not really paying attention to the sandwich he was eating to go beyond that it wasn't toxic and that it tasted rather good.

"I cut your crusts off in a heart shape for fuck's sake, Phil, the least you could do is look at me exasperatedly and roll your eyes! Hell, Natasha would at least threaten to shoot me!"

"It's sad that that's your concept of being loved."

"It's when she threatens to shoot you and doesn't that you know you've won her heart." Clint replied primly, his hands fidgeting with his paper napkin for the umpteenth time.

It was the nervous twitch that finally got Phil to peel his eyes away from the Stark-Rogers bedroom, "Spill."

"What, no foreplay? No taunting and toying with me until I'm a mess with juicy little nothings to whisper into your ear? No-"

"Phil, forgive me, but that was more of your sex life than I ever wanted to hear…" Bruce told them bluntly, appearing from his position lounged over the couch in the living room they were bordering.

"That was nothing resembling my sex life, Dr. Banner." Phil assured smoothly. Clint's deepening frown was what absolutely confirmed that, and that was still more information than Bruce ever need know.

"I'll be in my lab."

"Have fun, try not to blow anything up." Clint replied on a reflex, and Bruce shot him a look that clearly read "_Bruce_, not Tony".

Phil's eyebrow was arched just slightly, and it was enough of a facial expression that Clint knew he wasn't getting out of telling Phil everything. Clint folded his napkin, looking nervously up at Coulson through his lashes, "I never went to high school...barely went to school. I don't even remember-"

"Clint, you designed and programmed an arrow that would've taken the helicarrier out of the air. You aren't nearly as stupid as you give yourself credit for."

Clint snorted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he laughed, leaning over and pulling Phil over to kiss him slowly. "Between Banner, Stark, and Rogers...fuck, I don't even want to think about you and Tash...I'm just…"

"Clint, enough. You live with two geniuses, a government agent with five doctorates and a masters, the world's most tactically brilliant love-sick idiot, and Natasha Romanoff. You still pulled off The Great Panty Depression and successfully pinned it on me." Tony told him, frowning massively as he walked up to the table and was the shortest one there.

Clint couldn't help his smirk, Steve and Coulson both glowering at him. "Hey, it was mostly Tony's fault he got blamed. He was the one that noticed, so he got Steve and his undies back first."

Steve shot an appreciative look over at Tony, and Coulson scowled at his lover appropriately for letting a teammate take the fall.

"Besides, we'll protect you, Barton." Tony smirked.

Steve and Coulson turned to Tony, both of their eyes wide, "You're going to be attending?" Peter asked from his perch on the ceiling. Steve and Coulson flinched a little, Tony and Clint looking at them both as if they'd gone mad.

"Yes. I'm not leaving my team mates." Steve pulled him close, and Phil had to hide the pride in his eyes. Clint nodded respectfully, Peter slowly extending himself upside-down from the ceiling by a web, his insane hair almost brushing the table. "I hope you intend on cleaning this up."

Peter nodded solemnly, the very picture of maturity and responsibility. Tony didn't buy it for a millisecond, but he let that go. Tony leaned into Steve's side lightly, his mouth pulling down into a frown. He had work he had to do: and no one was going to like that he was going to be doing it.

"Pete, why don't I show you the lab?" Tony walked over to the coffemaker, pouring himself a cup before flashing an oh-so-fake smile at Peter. Steve opened his mouth, "C'mon, kid, I haven't had a good geek-out since Bruce and I started watching _Doctor Who_." Tony had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from inviting Steve with them. He couldn't do what he needed to do if Steve were watching, and Peter was enough of a risk for telling him anyway. Steve looked down, disappointed, and Tony felt like a villain.

Peter looked at him pointedly from across the elevator as they rode down to Tony's workshop, "What am I hiding, and who am I hiding it from?"

Tony smiled slowly, shaking his head in appreciation for having already been caught, "I have to design a suit for mini-me. If it comes down to it, I'm not going to be left behind."

Peter frowned, "I can't promise you I will be able to withstand questioning by Captain America-even the miniature Captain America-but I can promise to try."

Tony grinned, wolfish and the same on his young face as it was on his older one, "No worries. I wouldn't stand up when faced with Cap, either, but that's mostly because he knows where I'm ticklish and could bribe me with sex."

Peter snorted, "You're sleeping with Captain America-"

Tony smiled at him, shaking his head, "No, kid: I'm sleeping with Steve Rogers. Now, Captain America is a part of Steve like Iron Man is a part of me, but the thing to remember most here is: Steve isn't Cap, and Cap isn't Steve. They aren't mutually inclusive or exclusive of each other: Steve Rogers is a man that's fallen in love with someone who Captain America wouldn't give the time of day to."

Peter frowned, hopping up on a stool as Tony walked around to the workbench, "You're not nearly as...depraved...as you think you are. You're not evil, Tony."

"You're a sweet kid." Tony told him lightly, fingers beginning to play over the holograms. "What's your back-story? What's with the super-heroing?"

"I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and it gave me...abilities. My...My parents died when I was very young. My Aunt May and Uncle Ben took me in. Uncle Ben died not long after I got my powers...Aunt May died of a broken heart not long after." Tony's movements slowed, his eyes glassy.

"Peter...It's a madhouse around here, so I'll get it if you don't want to, but there's a place for you here, any time you need it. You're one of us now: you'll be one of us forever." There was the sound of buckling metal and dry wall, and Clint fell onto the workbench between them with a pitiful groan. Coughing and waving dust and debris out of the air, Tony looked over at Peter with a devilish grin, "Welcome to the family."

Peter shrugged, grinning back, "Meh. At least I'm adopted."

* * *

**A/N: I am so unbelievably sorry that this is taking so long, I've got five hundred ideas on the go, and my brain is a bag full of cats and laser pointers at the moment. Chaos rules. Thank you all so, so much for your support, I hope to be getting my ass in gear a little better, so there's less of a wait. TTFN, lovelies.**


End file.
